Actually the majority of the housing crisis would have been avoided had the government stepped in and simply required confirmation of income on mortgage applica

Actually the majority of the housing crisis would have been avoided had the government stepped in and simply required confirmation of income on mortgage applications. The lack of this simple and obvious requirement (which Obama put into place as soon as he came into office) allowed independent mortgage companies like Countrywide to put together ridiculous mortgages for people that could not afford it. Those same mortgage companies then sold the mortgages for packaging and had no risk. Thus, they were incentivized to get as many mortgages done as possible - regardless of the risk. From my point of view, this is a classic example of where government regulation not only makes sense, but keeps market participates from creating abnormal risk.